Keemun Finest Chuen Cha

Thanks Stacy for this tea sample

The night was soooo windy! Down the mountains came the winds with howling hoots and bellows.
I tossed and turned feeling the effect of the weather change. It was as if I was at Sea, with waves and wind rising and falling, which set off a minor nausea migraine.

Morning brought more wind. All day the bright gold leaves will be torn from the trees, flying down the street like shimmering rain.

Strong tea is good for nausea migraines.

I found this Keemun tucked in the ‘to be reviewed’ drawer and knew this was the choice for beginning my day. With the way I was feeling
I was NOT in the mood for setting up an elaborate tasting session that was going to take a long time. I wanted my tea fast.

My experience with Keemun’s isn’t very deep. I’ve had some from Teavivre, another from Butiki and one from Happy Lucky’s. That’s about the extent of it.
I’m gradually beginning to realize that Keemun Tea’s are varied and worth exploring more. Every one I’ve tried has been vastly different than the last.

When I tasted this Keemun it was smoky, quite like a pine smoked Lapsang Souchong (but not nearly as strong). This was unexpected.

I had played with adding LS to a little Black Tea on occasion and this is close to what this tea tasted like to me.
There was some astringency up front in a pleasant way, a tangy bit of malt smoothing out at the finish.
I grew up across from an Italian Plum (prune) orchard and to tell the truth, the smoke was strong and I didn’t taste any plum.
I wasn’t too interested in this Keemun even with cream and sugar.

My favorite Keemun to date is Congou Keemun also from Butiki Teas.

I can’t go out on deck today, have to stay indoors deep in the bowels of the ship. I’ll get knocked into the ocean if I venture out, dizzy from the wind. Migraines behave strangely.

In any case, the tea did make me feel better…I’m not seasick!

I’m jaded by Yunnans, I drink so many of them. I love them.
I’m sampling Keemuns now, because a girl needs variety in her life, right?
I’m enjoying them, but still learning…as always…

I got a crazy order from Stacy yesterday, wonderfully packaged, by the way, with her amazing Tetris skills ;)
One word of advice, Stacy, the Watermelon Xylo needs in be encased in a ziploc! Everything smells like it!

So, this tea initially smelled like Watermelon xylo as well, and this is a free sample from Stacy, who is awesome & wonderful, & the Queen of Teas! Thanks Stacy!

I poured it in the cup to let it air out a bit, and it smells mildly of chocolate & malt, and maybe a little sweet. After steeping, it initially had a bitterness, but that quickly dissipated. I didn’t find it to be strong, but substantial, warming, & pleasant. It’s a mildly sweet cup with fruity & malty undertones, and as it cooled the last couple of sips had a floral quality, a hint of rose!

A very enjoyable cup, and a nice start to my tea drinking day!

I am surprised that there are no tasting notes on this for me, as I know I’ve had it before, because I even wrote a review for it last year. Here’s the link to that review, if you’d like to take a look: http://sororiteasisters.com/2011/03/10/keemun-finest-chuen-cha-from-butiki-teas/

My thoughts today are very similar to what I thought back then: This is really delicious. Sweet, but not overly so. I am noticing more of the dried plum notes today than I remember from it in the past. The first few sips were smoky, but after a while it tapered and became more of that charcoal-y note that I mentioned in the above review.

Another lovely tea from Butiki!

Busy day yesterday, too busy for logging tea, but not too busy to drink them. This was my cup(s) (three to be precise) of the morning. I spent a lot of time with it, letting it roll over my tongue. The first few sips I was a bit disappointed, this has some astringency when hot especially when too much hits the mouth at once and when swallow too quickly. However when it cools a bit, sipped slowly and left to sit on the tongue for a few seconds, it is pure heaven. I get these lovely cool powdery notes of cocoa, lichen and mushrooms with a bit of smoke. I did find the Keemun Congou to be easier to drink, but knowing how to approach this, it’s lovely. I think next time I shall try shorter steeps.

Thanks LiberTEAs!

When I read “notes of leather” – I’m not going to lie…it freaked me out! As a vegetarian I cringe at the thought of leather and even if I wasn’t a vegetarian I hate the aroma leather has. Luckily…I didn’t pick up on any of the leather-likeness! The owner of this company is a vegetarian, too, which I thought was pretty awesome! So…perhaps it’s more of a Pleather. :)

Anyhow…This is slightly smokey on the nose. The taste is slightly smokey, too, and it’s a nice slightly-smokey, indeed! There are fruity notes I am picking up on which are darned close to plum!

The more I sip this the more I like this too! It has a smoother aftertaste which is surprising and welcomed!

The description of this sounded pretty awesome: “Subtle notes of cocoa, leather, dried plum and wet earth”. On tasting, to me, it’s like a pine-smoked tea. I’d compare it to a pine-smoked tea more than any other tea. (And I’m a fan of pine-smoked tea!) It’s a great smokey flavor. It is a bit leathery, but silky smooth. Sometimes I just like strong tea. And I’ll be steeping for a longer time and at a higher temperature the second cup to get even more flavor out of it. Another amazing tea from Butiki! I could probably be satisfied with only drinking Butiki teas the rest of my life! But then again, so much tea, so little time! It’s overwhelming to think of all the fantastic tea companies like Butiki that I might miss! Try anything from Butiki. There is no way you’ll be disappointed! Butikiteas.com